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Does anybody know what they are doing about a beat writer? It's been a shaky couple years there with turnover but since that kid Boyd left they never replaced him. Now the coverage is very elementary level. Hoping they hire someone soon or else i'm gonna unsubscribe. Too bad because i usually love their coverage.

Speaking of Pacers coverage, Tony East announced today on twitter he will be covering the Pacers for Sports Illustrated this season. You can check his coverage out on his twitter page or @SIPacers

They haven’t announced anyone, and it appears possible they’re going to cover the Pacers with their staff overall. I’ve seen a lot of random sports writers being sent to cover the Pacers events so far this offseason. I assume this is part of Gannett’s cost cutting in not filling open positions.

Gannet did major layoffs nationwide recently.

They’re sending an intern, Wilson Moore, on the first road trip.

They’re not prioritizing this hire. Sounds like they’re going to just piecemeal it and maybe re assign someone already on staff.

theAthletic isn't doing much better. they hired Boyd but have him on the Colts beat with Zak. Kravitz has done the only local Pacer pieces.

Grang33r wrote:......since that kid Boyd left they never replaced him.....

Not exactly big shoes to fill.

Tom White wrote:

Grang33r wrote:......since that kid Boyd left they never replaced him.....

Not exactly big shoes to fill.

I think we're spoiled by C2_Cooper.

It’s wild that the 3 best Pacers reporters/writers (Tony East, Scott Agness, and Caitlin Cooper) are all independent and not a daily contributor to the local paper or any of the local tv channels.

Gannett is killing a king run of great Pacers beat writers to save a few dollars for an inevitable corporate sale/merger.

Scoot McGroot wrote:It’s wild that the 3 best Pacers reporters/writers (Tony East, Scott Agness, and Caitlin Cooper) are all independent and not a daily contributor to the local paper or any of the local tv channels.

Gannett is killing a king run of great Pacers beat writers to save a few dollars for an inevitable corporate sale/merger.

Not just Pacers. Colts and more too. Chappell, PhilB, Zak, Bruno, Holder, and more all escaped the Star

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Tony East is my favorite followed by Scott Agnes and Caitlin Cooper. Tony while he tweets a ton I also like his free articles. Only thing I dislike about Tony is that I get tweets about the Fever which I don’t want. Scott unfortunately has a paywall too often, and while I like his tweets I don’t get the inside scoop he dishes because I’m cheap ha ! With Caitlin I sometimes see exactly what she sees and it feels like repetitive knowledge of the game. To her credit she brings the new terminology into play on her analysis and her articles are free.

I didn’t like Boyd as I’m not local and his tweets weren’t impressive.

As for Colts there’s a few people I follow on Twitter for news as well as occasionally reading the Colts.com message board.

Pacers Forever wrote:To her credit she brings the new terminology into play on her analysis...

HA! I've often thought she was making up those terms as she goes.

Tom White wrote:

Pacers Forever wrote:To her credit she brings the new terminology into play on her analysis...

HA! I've often thought she was making up those terms as she goes.

I also need a dictionary to follow her. I was referred to this. she does use coach-speak without explanations.

https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58

Scoot McGroot wrote:They’re sending an intern, Wilson Moore, on the first road trip.

They’re not prioritizing this hire. Sounds like they’re going to just piecemeal it and maybe re assign someone already on staff.

Too bad, looks like I'll be unsubscribing.

Wizop wrote:theAthletic isn't doing much better. they hired Boyd but have him on the Colts beat with Zak. Kravitz has done the only local Pacer pieces.

Yeah I was sad when the athletic let Scott Agness go.

My memory is probably 50% of what it was. Anyone remember who have been the better tv pregame/postgame sideline reporters ?

Of course it doesn’t need to be said but anything Boyle, Slick, Quinn, Denari, Kellogg, and old schoolers Jerry Baker and Don Hein have done is money well spent to me.

I remember Austin Croshere filling some tv and radio roles, Stacey Paetz, and Brooke Olzendam. I googled and I really don’t remember Kristi Lee and some of the other people.

The current trio of Eddie Gill, Pat Boylan, and Jeremiah Johnson I’m not excited about.

Anyone have any favorites on the tv side that was good for the Pacers regardless of how long they did it ?

the Albert brother was the worst. I think Kevin Calabro's brother did something long ago before he became he went to the west coast. did Bob Lamey do Pacers after the Racers folded? I think there was a football guy from Purdue once long ago. Greg Rakestraw did a pregame from a bar in the neighborhood but I think that was for a station rather than the team. Kristi Lee was a regular on the old Bob and Tom morning radio show. I think Reb Porter the long time stadium announcer - two-ah - may have done some radio. I know for sure he did a post game DJ party in a room high in MSA perhaps for season ticket holders.

Wizop wrote:the Albert brother was the worst.

He was awful. His main thing was stealing his brother's catch phrases. "And Reggie is ON FIRE tonight!"

did Bob Lamey do Pacers after the Racers folded?

Yes, Hockey Bob did work for the Pacers for a while. He did one of the funnier things (or sad maybe) that I've heard on a Pacers broadcast. You have to understand Lamey was more than a little prone to exaggeration.

Before one game, he talked about the officials working that night's game. Something like "Folks, we're very lucky tonight to have (I think it was) Jake O'Donnell working tonight's game. He is one of the finest officials you will find in any sport."

Later on, as it became apparent the game was not going the Pacers way, he changed his tune. "Jake O'Donnell is literally stealing this game from the Pacers tonight." I almost laughed until I cried on that one.

They also had a lady color commentator who was awful. Phyllis Ackerman. Among her insights was a butchering of the "someone put a lid on the basket tonight" line, when she proclaimed that "Someone has put a cookie sheet on the rim tonight'". I swore from that point on I would never listen to her do another game, and I held true to it. Lucky for everyone she didn't last long at all. [/quote]

Tom White wrote:

Wizop wrote:the Albert brother was the worst.

He was awful. His main thing was stealing his brother's catch phrases. "And Reggie is ON FIRE tonight!"

he often slipped and called Reggie by the name of another Reggie who played in Denver. both Alperts drove me crazy calling Rajah Bell Roger. somehow they thought everyone else was dropping the R

Tom White wrote:They also had a lady color commentator who was awful. Phyllis Ackerman.

wasn't she just a fan with no professional training?

Wizop wrote:wasn't she just a fan with no professional training?

Did a quick search and found this: https://www.ibj.com/articles/11556-sports-keith-hernandez-meet-phyllis-ackerman-trailblazer

They are much more kind to her than me, but she really was terrible.

both Benner brothers were also at the Star at one time. Moncrief too.